Objective

• Disseminated rice cultivars with high grain yield and high straw quality identified in phase 1
• Explore genomic region that are associated with rice straw fodder quality traits
• Develop a strategy for targeted further concomitant genetic enhancement of grain and straw traits in rice

Develop scaling plans for spin-off technologies from second-generation biofuel identified in phase 1 with supporting business plans

• Improve the efficiency of application of spin-off technologies to improvement of fodder quality by combining existing technological approaches and by identifying and adding new ones

Methods

• Describe demand domains for identified superior dual-purpose rice cultivars, procure their seeds and disseminated them in the demand domains
• Investigate mapping population of rice for straw quality and associations between them and markers
• Identify and proof-of-concept breeding strategies that identify suitable parental lines that convey superior straw quality while maintaining superior grain yield
• Design engineering options and business plans for the identified spin-off technologies (steam explosion and 2CCT) that allows embedding in decentralized private enterprises
• Further search technological options originally developed for ethanol production from crop residues for use in fodder improvement a sole technologies and as cross combinations

Expected outcomes

• Multidimensional crop improvement
• New rice cultivars with high grain yield and high straw fodder quality
• Breeding approaches for concomitant improvement of grain yield and straw fodder quality in rice
• Spin-off technologies for upgrading fodder quality
• Economically viable and safe treatment options that can upgrade the fodder quality of cereal crop residues to concentrate level
• Business models for medium decentralized feed enterprises that upgrade crop residues